Turkey and Russia to hold meeting on Syria's future

The Russian and Turkish prime ministers will meet in the Kremlin from 5-6 December to discuss diplomatic and economic rapprochement between the two countries, after relations frayed over Syria.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

15 November, 2016

This will be Yildirim's first visit to Moscow since his appointment in May [AFP]

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will visit Moscow in early December to discuss restoring ties between the two countries and outline the future of Syria.

Yildirim will discuss economic relations with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, after Russian sanctions on Turkey are lifted.

The visit is expected to be a prelude to the "Turkish-Russian High Level Cooperation Council", between presidents Tayyip Recep Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in January.

The meeting will take place between 5 and 6 December and include will likely include talks on Syria and Iraq and joint operations against the Islamic State group.

Russia imposed trade sanctions on Turkey this summer, which resulted in a dearth of Russian tourist visitors to the country.

Russian tourists make up a large part of Turkey's economy in the northern region and the sanctions led to a huge slump in finances for the region.

Relations between the two countries became strained in November last year, after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane which had crossed into Turkish airspace.

Turkey said that Russian planes routinely crossed over into its airspace and had warned Moscow before the attack.

Putin moved to thaw relations between the two countries following July's Gulen coup attempt, calling the attack "a stab in the back by terrorists' affiliates."

Turkey has since apologised for the attack on the Russian warplane.